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Culture & Identity of Macedonia

Introduction

Macedonia is a mountainous country that seems to be a bit of an isolated state in
many ways. The culture and way of life is partially based on the mountainous landscape
and the rural culture. In the changing world, particularly with growing infrastructure
and communication the way of life in Macedonia is changing, but still clings to
the historic ties.

The historic way of life is based on village life as family and community were incredibly
important and the center of life. In many ways, this life was also heavily reliant
on farming and agriculture as many people worked in these areas. However, today
the economic state is changing and so is the daily way of life. People are moving
to cities in greater numbers and getting jobs in industrial and services sectors,
giving them more regular jobs with hours from about 8:00 am to about 8:00 pm, but
many times with a long lunch break. However, many more people seeking jobs can't
find them as nearly a third of the population seeking work is currently unemployed.

Although people are moving to the cities to get jobs, many fail in this quest and
for those who do succeed, many use the money earned to help support their families,
often time family members in the rural parts of the country where the individuals
are from.

No matter the setting, the people's way of life revolves around their families
and ties to local communities never seem to disappear.

The Macedonians identify as Macedonian, which is essentially
a politically-defined term. The Macedonians delicately stand between Bulgaria and
Greece, clinging to the name Macedonian with pressures from both sides. The Bulgarians
generally scoff at Macedonian identity and proclaim that the term Macedonian cannot
be an ethnically-based identity, since Macedonian is not a "distinct ethnicity";
the Bulgarians view themselves and the Macedonians to be the same people ethnically,
but care little if the Macedonians call themselves such. Despite arguments from
the Bulgarians, the Macedonian ethnicity is a contributing factor in the Macedonian
identity, although only on a secondary level. Like the Bulgarians, the Greeks refuse
to give the Macedonian identity much recognition, since the ancient Macedonians
were most likely closer, ethnically, to the modern day Greeks than the modern day
Macedonians. In this way, the Greeks see this name "Macedonia" as belonging
to them and their history, not to the people of modern day Macedonia. Despite the
arguments and confusion, Macedonians generally still identify as Macedonian and
for these people this term is primarily a political identity, but the people's
ethnicity, language, and culture and also associated with the term to varying degrees.